Cities and regions are leading the fight against global warming, calling for the EU to be zero carbon by 2050, as world leaders prepare for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) in November.
After months of deliberation, Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker presented his team, and the new executive structure, on 10 September.
The European Commission is reviewing its impact assessment guidelines amid accusations that science is becoming increasingly politicised and scientists manipulated by policymakers and powerful interest groups.
In the autumn of 2014, a new team of commissioners will take charge of the EU executive. As Europe's economic storms calm down, the next Commission can set its sights on a number of long-term challenges when drafting its programme. An overview of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
On 22-25 May, EU citizens cast their ballots to elect 751 members of the European Parliament. But MEPs will not be the only ones to perform a game of musical chairs: 2014 will also bring about change in many of the top positions in the EU.
Two decades into the European single market, getting people or goods from one part of the European Union to another on trains remains a challenge – despite rail's potential in reducing traffic pollution and congestion. The European Commission is considering new ways to reach the end station of a common railway market.
The Greek sovereign debt crisis is forcing Europeans to rethink the coordination of their national economic policies, confronting the euro area with its most severe test since its launch eleven years ago.
The selection of a new European Commission, never the simplest of political tasks, has this year been more complex than ever. Politically and institutionally, 2009 came with a whole range of permutations regarding the 'how?', 'when?' and 'who?' of the next EU executive.
Since the presentation of the new team of European commissioners by José Manuel Barroso, officials have been busy swapping seats in a round of 'musical chairs' that involves some of the most powerful EU jobs in Brussels.
National parliaments have come to play an increasingly important role in the functioning of the EU, cooperating with the European Commission and the European Parliament as well as with each other. The Lisbon Treaty further strengthens their influence on EU decision-making.
Consumer policy is moving up the European Commission's agenda as the EU becomes increasingly concerned about its popularity level among citizens.
The newly elected post-enlargement Parliament will still be dominated by the two biggest political families. Under the new Constitution, the Parliament will gain in power but will it be able to deliver?
All future members of the European Union will be eligible to join the European single currency, the euro, in accordance with the provisions of the Maastricht Treaty. The ten countries that are due to join the EU on 1 May 2004 have all expressed interest in joining the eurozone at the earliest possible time. However, monetary integration may take longer for some future members, notably Poland and Hungary, whose budget deficits are deteriorating while unemployment is soaring. The future members will also have to make further efforts toward catching up to EU levels of income per capita, which requires hard work in the area of labour markets and fiscal policy reform.
On 24 April 2003, the Convention Praesidium proposed that the enlarged Union should have a President of the European Council and a Foreign Minister. Other proposals for a new institutional architecture of the EU include downsizing the Commission to 15 members, setting up a Congress of national and EU parliamentarians, making the number of members of parliament more proportional to the size of countries' populations and changing the qualified majority voting system so that such a majority shall consist of the majority of Member States, representing at least 60 percent of the Union's population.
